ECONOMIC & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

City Council is focusing on successful strategies for spreading economic recovery to all neighborhoods in Denver through workforce development, targeted hire, and job training programs specifically geared toward middle skill jobs and low-income individuals aged 25-65.

Council Goals

Develop a strategy for establishing job pipelines to the city’s major projects: I-70, North Denver Cornerstone Collaborative/National Western Complex, and all bond-funded projects.

Develop a pilot project modeled on best practices from other cities that includes the necessary resources (staffing and funding).

Participate in a half-day technical work session to comprehensively review successful job placement and workforce development efforts implemented in other cities or by other entities and make this work session a model for deliberating other issues in the city.

Learn from the success of RTD’s “Workforce Initiative Now” (WIN) project and the Denver Community College system’s experience with workforce development efforts.

Seek input from individuals who fall into the unemployed or underemployed categories to better understand their needs, and whether the job training provided is relevant and offered at appropriate times, or actually creates unintentional barriers to success.

Develop workforce skills that are transferable to address other issues, like food access and sustainability.

Build connections between the city and local businesses who are hiring people for jobs that require particular skill-sets.

Look at Project Labor Agreements and how they can help with local workforce/economic development efforts.

Year-end Goals

Have 90% job placement and 80% retention for the WIOA program (18-25 year olds).

Expand the amount of money available for individual training accounts so as people take advantage of apprenticeships they have a direct tie-in with Denver Public Schools to work with youth (connection to training opportunities for individuals not going to college).

Implement a strategy for job pipelines to the city’s major infrastructure projects.

Review results and recommendations from the pilot project based on best practices from other cities (if the pilot project has been completed and results provided before year-end).

Complete the half-day work session and implement job placement model.

Provide programmatic recommendations to the mayor’s administration gleaned from RTD’s WIN project and other successful models.